Vers. 20-26.-The broken arm. It is marvellous that men do not realize as o. fact how completely dependent they are upon the unseen God. In theory, the bulk of men are theists; in practice, atheists. It would produce a blessed revolution in society if believers in God's nearness lived up to their beliefs. How differently would kings and statesmen act, compared with their ordinary conduct I What a scene of order and quietness would our earth become I I. THAT A CONFLICT BETWEEN NATIO!fS MAY DE REGARDED AS A PERSONAL COMBAT, The bulk of an army are tools, who, for ooneiderations of pay, fight the battles of their sovereign king. It would often be more just, and more advantageous, if the persons who pick a national quarrel would personally and singly fight it out. Yet even the military equipment of a king is simply hie arm magnified. Hence we call weapons of war arms. They are the artificial arm of the monarch. In almost every case the c,ause of war is II personal matter between two sovereigns, or their representatives. 152 THE BOO:It OF THE 1'ROPHE1' EZEKIEL. [011. xxx. l-20,
The nation is expected to i<lentify itself, willingly or unwillingly, with their sovereign, and act as bis confederates. Il. 'l'HAT IN SUCH PERSONAL COMBAT TIIE ARM IS AN ESSENTIAL INSTRUMENT, As many animals are furnished by God with weapons of defence, so the human arm, so skilfully donstracted, is man's chief instrument in battle. Without question, it was designed to serve other purposes. It is more adapted for industrial pursuits than for martial engagements. Yet, as self-existence is a law of nature, the right arm has an unspeakable value in defending one's self against a foe. In armament it is man''s masterpiece. Shield and sword are reduced to uselessness unless there be a brawny arm. Ill. THAT THE CREATOR OF MAN CAN WEAKEN OR STRENGTHEN MAN'S ARM AT PLEASURE. No part of man's nature has been constructed by himself""- No part can be maintained in vigour by himself. He is, in every part and through every moment, dependent on his Maker. As man cannot make an arm, neither can he maintain its life and energy. The strength of that arm depends on occult forces of nerve and ligament, that man knows little about. He is just discovering some of the channels and laws through which his Divine Creator works: so far he can act with God; but still the Fount of life is in God alone. Wisely did King David recognize that it was God who" taught his hands to war, and his fingers to fight." The maintenance of vitality rests with God. Every increment of strength is due to him. His favour invigorates us; his frown makes us weak. '£he man of giant stren2;th is but an infant in God's hands. Without his upholding power our arms would fall at once, paralyzed at our side. IV. THAT IF Gon BREAKS THE ABM OF ANY COMBATANTS DEFEAT ENSUES. How completely is God the Arbiter in every battle I Very clearly, we are told, God inter- poses, in a hundred different ways, to decide the wage of war. If a spirit of timidity or fear fills the hearts of rank-and-file, the arm on which the monarch depended is broken. If treachery lurks in any department of the military service, or even in one man's breast, the arm of the king is broken. On the other hand, God has a sword of his own, and there are times when he places this in the hand of a combatant. There are times when God gives extraordinary strength, or skill, to a human arm. For wise reasons his assistance is not seen, hie action is not discovered. Men put down the result to chance or to the fortunes of war. It is a common failing to forget God. We may always have God's strength in our arm if we will. If we keep closely at his side, and calmly do his will, be will surely be on our side if we are forced into battle. Then we shall feel that the battle is not ours; it is the Lord's.-D. Vers. 1-3, 7.-The day of desolation. To what extent we are to take the prophet's description of the "woe" that was to overtake Egypt in a strictly external sense must (as said before on eh. :x.xi.x. 16) depend on our principle of biblical interpretation, together with our readino- of ancient history. For the purpose of religious edification it is enough that we ac°cept these words ae a picture of the desolation to which 11 course of guilt, whether national or individual, may be expected to lead. I. NATIONAL DESOLATION, Of this Ezekiel furnishes, in the whole chapter, a most graphic picture. 1. Prosperity (fulness) departs, and there is no more boast of its great population (ver. 10). 2. Violent death lays numbers of it9 people low; the laud is "filled with the slain" (vers. 4, 11). 3. Its hope, in the person of its young men, is slain (ver. 17). 4. Its beauty, its pride, in the person of its daughters, is removed (ver. 18). 5. Its physical resources are dried up (ver. 12). 6. Its natural leaders are lost to it (ver 13). 7. Its religious institutions are broken up (ver. 13). 8. Its allies and dependencies are dragged down with it to the ground (vers. 5, 6); "its yokes are broken" (ver. 18). 9. Its people are stricken with dismay; iostead of its ancient pride and pomp (ver. 18), fearfulness fills the heart of its inhabitants (vcr.13); a cloud of dire IP.isfortune throws the whole country into dark shadow (vers. 3, 18). The final, comprehensive touch is in the language of the text. 10. Desolation in the 1uiust c,f desolation. It does not appear that Egypt ever presented so desperate a scene as this; and we may understand either (1) that God, for some sufficient reason, forbore to visit the land with the last extremity of woe (see Jonah iii. 4, 10); or (2) that the language of the prophecy is to be taken as hyperbolical, and thus interpreted. But we must also understand that (3) the ultimate iHsue of collective (national) <lH, xxx. 1-26.] THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHE'r EZEKIEL. 153